The Public Prosecutor at the Beirut Court of Appeal Judge Raja Hamouche is building the judicial file of the Lebanese ambassador to France Rami Adwan, suspected of “raping and physically assaulting two female employees of the Lebanese embassy in Paris.”
A judicial source told Houna Loubnan that, upon studying the diplomat’s file, Judge Hamoush found that it lacked many documents and information to base himself on. The source revealed: “The file forwarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the judiciary does not include Adwan’s statements to the French police or the testimonies of the two young female plaintiffs, which is why the judge will ask to be provided with the missing documents before setting a date to question the ambassador.” The source went on to confirm that the prosecutor “has sent a letter to the French judicial authorities, via the General Cassation Prosecutor’s Office, requesting a copy of the French investigation into the assaulted employees.”
“The statements made by the two young women plaintiffs form the basis of the investigation and of the questions that will be asked to Adwan,” the source added.
Upon the receipt of the documents from France, the source stated that “Judge Hamoush will ask the two complainants to appear before him to listen to them,” specifying that he has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide him with their full identities and addresses in Paris in order to notify them of the date of the hearing.” The source continued: “If they refuse to appear for personal reasons, a rogatory commission will be sent to the French justice system to question them and obtain their testimonies.”
Furthermore, the source indicated that “Ambassador Adwan’s summons is not conditional upon the receipt of the documents from France, and that the Public Prosecutor at the Beirut Court of Appeal may summon him before the hearing takes place, given the interest of the investigation.”
